Today in History, October 20th
On October 20, 1973, Nixon had Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox fired in the Saturday Night Massacre. Plus MacArthur returns.
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October 20 is best known for the “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, when President Richard Nixon had Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired and the top two Justice Department officials quit rather than do it. The date also saw General Douglas MacArthur return to the Philippines in 1944 and the Sydney Opera House open in 1973.
The big story: The Saturday Night Massacre (1973)
Archibald Cox had been hired to get to the bottom of Watergate, and he was doing it too well for the White House’s comfort. His investigation was turning up signs that the 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee offices was one piece of a wider pattern of abuses. On Saturday, October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire him. Richardson refused and resigned. Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus was asked next, and he refused and resigned too. The job fell to Solicitor General Robert Bork, who agreed and dismissed Cox. The weekend’s events quickly picked up the nickname “Saturday Night Massacre,” and the reaction was furious in the press and across the country. Two days later the House Judiciary Committee began looking into whether to impeach the president. Facing likely impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, the only U.S. president to do so.
More events on October 20
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1740 | Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died, setting off the War of the Austrian Succession. |
| 1774 | The First Continental Congress created the Continental Association, a pact to stop trade with Britain. |
| 1803 | The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty for the Louisiana Purchase, which roughly doubled the nation’s size. |
| 1883 | Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón, ending the War of the Pacific and giving the province of Tarapacá to Chile. |
| 1935 | Mao Zedong reached Shensi (Shaanxi) Province with the surviving marchers, ending the Long March. |
| 1944 | General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, keeping his promise to return to the Philippines. |
| 1947 | Congress opened hearings into alleged Communists in the Hollywood film industry. |
| 1968 | Dick Fosbury won Olympic gold in the high jump with a record leap and debuted the technique known as the “Fosbury Flop.” |
| 1973 | Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House, designed by Jørn Utzon. |
| 1977 | A plane carrying the band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Mississippi, killing singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and another band member. |
| 2011 | Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, in power since 1969, was captured and killed by rebel forces near Sirte. |
| 2020 | NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected rock and dust from the asteroid Bennu, the first U.S. spacecraft to do so. |
Born on October 20
- 1854: Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, born in Charleville.
- 1882: Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor best known as Count Dracula.
- 1931: Mickey Mantle, baseball star, born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma.
- 1964: Kamala Harris, 49th vice president of the U.S., born in Oakland, California.
Sources
- Watergate Special Prosecutor Dismissed, History.com
- Watergate Scandal, Britannica
- What Happened on October 20, History.com
- On This Day: October 20, Britannica
- Arthur Rimbaud, Britannica
- Bela Lugosi, Britannica
- Mickey Mantle, Britannica
- Kamala Harris, Britannica
